What Do UK Businesses Need to Know About PECR and TPS Before AI Calls?

Short answer: the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), enforced by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), set the rules for marketing calls in the UK. Automated marketing calls need the person's specific prior consent to receive automated calls from you, and live marketing calls must not go to numbers registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or Corporate TPS unless that person has told you they are happy to hear from you. An AI agent placing marketing calls should be treated with care on both counts, and you are responsible for the calls you make.

This is a plain-language overview, not legal advice. Read the ICO's guidance on electronic and telephone marketing, and take advice from a solicitor before you run outbound AI calls.

Why this matters for AI calls

PECR splits marketing calls into two kinds. Live calls are made by a person. Automated calls use a system that dials and plays a message without a person on the line. An AI voice agent holds a real conversation, but no person from your business is on the call, so it sits much closer to an automated call than a live one. Unless your legal adviser tells you otherwise, plan on the stricter rule: specific prior consent before any AI marketing call.

The main rules, at a high level

1. Automated marketing calls need consent. The person must have specifically agreed to receive automated marketing calls from you. A general tick-box for "marketing" is not enough under the ICO's guidance.
2. Screen live marketing calls against the TPS and CTPS. Do not make live marketing calls to numbers on either register unless the person has told you they do not object to your calls.
3. Respect anyone who says no. If someone tells you not to call them, do not call them again.
4. Say who you are, and show your number. Identify your business on the call and do not hide the number you call from.
5. Marketing is broader than selling. Promoting your organisation's aims counts as marketing too. A genuine service call, such as confirming a booking the customer made, is generally not marketing, but a service call that also promotes something can be.

UK GDPR applies alongside PECR to the personal data you use, such as your call lists and call transcripts.

What the product does for you

• A do-not-contact list you keep. Anyone on it is never called again by any campaign.
• Your own calling hours. Set the hours and weekdays campaigns may call, and skip holidays. The platform sets no calling window of its own; the hours are yours to choose.
• Calls from your own number. Outbound calls go out from the number you import from Twilio, Telnyx or Plivo, so people see who is calling.
• Smart retry that respects a no. Someone who declines a call is never re-dialled.
• A record of every call. A transcript and an outcome for each one. Recording is a per-agent switch, off by default.

What the product does not do

• It does not screen numbers against the TPS or CTPS. Screen your list before you upload it.
• It does not collect or check consent. Only upload people you have the right consent to call.
• It does not announce that it is an AI on its own. Write who is calling, and that it is an automated assistant, into the greeting.

Answering calls is different

These rules are about marketing calls you make. An AI receptionist answering calls that customers make to you is not outbound marketing; see how UK tradespeople stop missing calls.

What you need to start

A record of consent for everyone you plan to call, a list screened against the TPS and CTPS, your own imported number, and advice from your solicitor. The UK page covers how the product works for British businesses, and voice campaigns covers outbound calling.